A total of 8,185 units of new two-wheelers were registered in Gandaki zone in the last fiscal year, according to figures provided by Gandaki Zonal Transport Office. In the previous fiscal year, registration of new two-wheelers stood at 8,819 units.[break]
The sales of motorcycles and scooters are expected to decline this year as well if schools in Kaski district do not allow students enrolled in grades 11 and 12 to ride two-wheelers to schools.
“In the past, sales of motorcycles and scooters always used to go up by around 2,000 to 3,000 units per year,” according to a trader. “This trend has been bucked this year.”
Ichha Man Budhacharya, chief of Ichha Shakti Motors -- the distributor of Bajaj two-wheelers in Pokhara, said the decision of not allowing higher secondary level students to drive bikes or other two-wheelers to school has had adverse impact on two-wheeler market. This decision was taken jointly by Higher Secondary Schools Association of Nepal and District Traffic Police Office, Kaski after road accidents among the age group of 16-18 started taking a steep climb.
In Kaski district, sales of two-wheelers usually go up after final results of SLC (Grade 10) are published in mid-June or mid-July. This is because many students pester their parents with demand for a bike citing they have either passed the exam or they have secured ´good marks´. By this time most of these students also turn 16 -- the minimum age required to apply for driving license.
But after schools prevented students from bringing bikes to schools, most of the motorcycle showrooms are flushed with huge stock of bikes, instead of potential customers.
“Sales of new bikes in my shop went down by 200 units this year,” Budhacharya said.
Till last fiscal year, the number of two-wheelers in Gandaki stood at 67,169, which is 75 percent of total vehicles (88,658 units) registered in the zone.
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